Wireless fidelity, referred to as “WiFi” generally describes a wireless communications technique or network that adheres to the specifications developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) for wireless local area networks (LAN). A WiFi device is considered operable with other certified devices using the 802.11 specification of the IEEE. These devices allow wireless communications interfaces between computers and peripheral devices to create a wireless network for facilitating data transfer. This often also includes a connection to a local area network (LAN).
Operating frequencies range within the WiFi family, and typically operate around the 2.4 GHz band and 5 GHz band of the spectrum. Multiple protocols exist at these frequencies and these may also differ by transmit bandwidth.
Laptops and similar wireless devices are generally the weakest link in a WiFi system, because the typically have a low transmission (TX) power between the transmitters and the access points (APs). Thus high gain antenna systems would be useful. Antenna gain provides for directional capabilities of the radiation pattern, which may be helpful in some applications such as extended distances and high WiFi density areas. A multi-directional antennae may be particularly useful in point to multi-point communication arrangement, where a centrally located high-gain antenna may be configured to service multiple Client Premise Equipment (CPE) devices. To date, obstacles for designing multi-directional antennae typically include achieving high gain, low cost and manufacturability, since multi-directional antennae tends to be more complicated in design than less directional antennas. Furthermore, antennae configured for outdoor deployment tend to further increase design complexity and cost due to weather and other environmental factors.
It would be beneficial to provide low-profile antenna systems for wireless signal transmission that are easy to manufacture and operate, particularly antennas configured to provide broadband data transmissions coverage in multiple sectors of regions that are each serviced by a dedicated radio transceiver of the multi-sector antenna. Such apparatuses may be particularly useful for radio transmissions operating above 1 GHz for data and voice communications. Described herein are antenna systems that may address the issues and needs discussed above.